ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

An attempt of modernization in Craiova during the Second World War 83II. Pasol na… OdessaIn the fall of 1944, the arriving of the Red Army in Craiova wouldsuspend the usage of the trolleybuses and the entire material had to be givenback to the U.S.S.R.Sent by Stalin at Craiova with the mission of making operative – chekistproceedings, the deputy of the People’s Commissary for the Internal Affairs, thecomrade I. V. Serov, mentioned in his report dating from October 12 th : “Therehad been retreated from traffic and sent back to Odessa 7 trolleybuses, 7tramways, cast iron pillars, electric cable and bronze statues brought byRomanians from that territory.” 21The story of the tramways and trolleybuses has an unexpected epilogue.When everyone hoped that this bad piece of business would beforgotten, when it was no longer in the interest of even the Soviets, The NationalLiberal Party (Bratianu) from Dolj district, seized with a vindictive feeling,required an investigation which should reveal the culpable ones. In January1945, the liberals, helped by the mayor, the attorney Nelu Sandu, addressed anote to the mayor, in which they demanded an urgent intervention at TheInternal Affairs Ministry “to authorize an administrative inspector and afinancial one to control the administration of all the City Hall’s services, startingfrom 1 st of January 1938 and up to the present, particularly for the CommunalFactories, to find out who initiated the trolleybuses affair, who brought them,what kind of material was brought and what materials were taking back toU.S.S.R., to clearly see how much money spent the Authorities for”. 22 Becausethe City Hall didn’t take into account the petition, the liberals expressed theirindignation: “How can it be possible that 6 months after the removing of theDictatorship, Antonescu’s people had the highest positions?”. 23 And this was notall. In February 1945, probably after some personal investigations, The NationalLiberal Party accused directly the leadership of the Communal Factories of“stealing the tramways, based on the express report”, while, responsible forbringing the trolleybuses in Craiova was found the general Constantin (Picky)Vasiliu, the city’s former mayor (1938 - 1940), whose “fantasy” cost the localauthorities 220 millions lei. 24 The large amount of money mentioned by the21 Misiunile lui A. I. Vâşinski în România. Din istoria relaţiilor româno-sovietice, 1944– 1946. Documente secrete, Bucuresti, 1997, p. 79-80, the document nr. 9.22 Liberalul, an. I, nr. 2, from 13 th January 1945, p. 3.23 Liberalul, an. I, nr. 7, from 17 th February 1945, p. 4.24 Liberalul, an. I, nr.6, from 10 th February 1945, p. 4; an. I, nr. 7 from 17 th February1945, p. 4. The accusations brought by the liberals to general Vasiliu, were confirmed by thelieutenant – the colonel Alexandru Badea Constantinescu, the commander of the Battalion 8 ofInstruction and Vehicle Repairs from Craiova: “The general Piky Vasiliu – the commander of theGendarmerie and Secretary of State to the Ministry of Internal Affairs – whished to beremembered in Craiova and for this reason he thought proper to bring trolleybuses from Odessa toCraiova and to work much money were spent from the country’s and Craiova’s budget, and then,